Before and After

Looking back I don't think I've posted many pictures of the house Jake and I purchased last November. In order to catch everyone up, we purchased a 70 year old little brick house on almost half an acre. The house has been taken care of pretty impecibly, however the decor hasn't really been updated in the past 20 years. Here is the progress so far...

Before we moved in we painted the living and dining room...
Living room (Before)

Living room (After)

Dining room (before)


Dining room (after)


Just last week we painted our downstairs powder room (we've now scraped wallpaper in two rooms - the $40 steamer was well worth the investment).

Downstairs bathroom (before)


Yes, those are gold sea shells stenciled on the wall (we painted over a lot of stenciling):

Downstairs bathroom (after)



I think the most drastic thing we have done so far also happened last week. We had eight trees taken down last week, some of them had lived here for a very long time. In the past 3 days we've had 2 separate instances where random people walking by have stopped us to comment on how much better the house looks.

Backyard (before)


Backyard (after) - It looks a little sparse because the trees on the left have not bloomed yet - we really only cut down the trees on the right hand side.


We're hoping that this tree removal, along with our relocation program, will reduce the number of squirrels in the yard (here's hoping). For those counting, below is a picture of POW number 005. In trying to chew his way out, he got his head stuck in the bottom corner of the cage...he was a little angry.

Caught!

Well, after 3 days Jake has outwitted a squirrel. We've had 2 days of false alarms (trap launched, no squirrel) and one of no activity. But today, after a long day at work, Jake could finally claim VICTORY. One little, furry beast was in the trap when we got home.


It's a zoo here right now. The squirrel is freaking out and the dog is going crazy. CRAZY. She's been chasing squirrels all winter and now she is able to come nose to nose. And did you know that squirrels growl? Today I learned that when in a cage face to face with a black lab, a squirrel will growl.


Next comes the question of what to do with the little bugger. First, let me say...I HATE rodents (When I was 5 and saw a rat on the woodpile in our back yard, I screamed so loud that my dad came running out of the house with a shotgun). I hate rodents and really, squirrels are rats with tails. That said, I really don't want to KILL them - which is Jake's first solution. If he had it his way, he would be shooting them with a bebe gun. But, I don't want all those deaths on Jake's conscience - or that karma at our house. So, tonight we are going to try the relocation method. Hopefully that will work out best for all parties.

On the topic of squirrel relocation....someone (on the internet - the source of all things true) said that you have to drive them 30 miles away, so they don't find there way back. I would like to ask that person, how they know it's the same squirrel. Are these people tagging squirrels to identify which ones are on their property? I've personally seen 5 squirrels at once in my yard...they all look the freaking same. We're going to take this squirrel to the park 5 miles away, and hope it's not industrious enough to run back 5 miles (crossing roads and a river, I might add).